Posts Tagged: Placers

The number of US temporary help services jobs rose by 14,700, according to seasonally adjusted numbers from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. The temp penetration reached another new high of 2.13%. In the Fourth Quarter of 2014, 57,400 new temporary jobs were created. This number represents over 17% of the jobs that were created in December and pushes the current numbers of temporary workers to just ten thousand shy of three million workers!

Seventeen percent is actually very high. Although some months as much as 24% of new jobs created were temporary in nature. However, it is hard to ignore the trends. There is a much higher percentage of creation of temporary jobs than most others. In fact, over the three years, one in ten jobs is considered temporary!

Every single month of 2014 saw an increase in the number of temporary workers. If it keeps up at this pace, could 2.5, 3 or 3.5 % of all employees be temp workers? If the last few years are a predictor of the next few, the answer is most certainly yes.

The business reasons are many. Work is becoming temporary in nature. Scaling up typically follows a ramp down. Work is more about projects than ever before. We ramp up to get big shipments out the door or to implement big projects. Then we scale back.

A business that uses temps has a great advantage to work with talent before committing. In a tightening job market (Yes, we are almost at a natural employment state of 5.5%), this is an effective and productive means of viewing and observing talent while working. This is a great way to select the best performers over time for core roles and functions.

The numbers of roles that are temporary are increasing because every job and pay grade in the company is now a possibility. With specialization in staffing firms and shifting workforce views, being a temporary President, CFO, or scientist is more and more accepted—even coveted!

Have you ever seen a councilman sweat under the pressure of playing a larger-than-life game of Jenga? On Monday, we joined The Greater Newark Economic Development Partnership (GNEDP), local elected officials, and members of the business community for a chance to be kids again and to celebrate the business partnership of CBI Group, Placers, and Barton Career Advisors.

A few months ago, we announced our official three-brand partnership under our shared values-based culture, Outside-In®. As Outside-In® Companies, we are united by a mindset that advocates putting the customer first in all scenarios, at all times. The companies’ consider our customers to include clients, internal employees, and even vendors.

In true Outside-In® fashion, we opted to have a “ribbon tying” in lieu of the traditional “ribbon cutting”, a literal representation of the merging of our brands to the public.

Mayor Polly Sierre and New Castle County Chamber Member/Incubator Tenant Matthew Doyle kicked off the ribbon tying by recognizing the Outside-In® Companies for its job-creating venture, contribution to the community, and charitable company culture.

However, our event was not all suits and ties. We humorously participated in a giant-sized Jenga game to encourage our guests to take positive social risks and network with our community. Part of our Outside-In® Family, Newark’s own Klondike Kates provided a picnic-style catering spread and exceptional Service to the Nth Degree.

Together under the Outside-In® name, CBI Group, Placers, and Barton Career Advisors continue to serve the national marketplace offering talent solutions in recruitment, staffing, and outplacement.

Join the Greater Newark Economic Development Partnership (GNEDP), local elected officials, and members of the business community on Monday, January 13th at 12 noon at CBI Group Headquarters in Newark to celebrate at our Ribbon Tying celebration!Please email smithm@greaternewarkde.com to confirm your attendance!

Talent leaders band together under shared, values-based culture

Delaware-based talent companies CBI Group, Placers and Barton Career Advisors announced today a new partnership under their shared values-based culture, Outside-In®. The companies will work together under the Outside-In® brand and continue to serve the national marketplace offering recruitment, staffing, and outplacement talent solutions.

This partnership unites three companies based on a shared culture called Outside-In®; a mindset that advocates putting the customer first in all scenarios, at all times. The companies’ consider their customers to include clients, internal employees, and even vendors.

“My personal goal is to have Outside-In® be as meaningful to a business and its customer base as the good housekeeping seal might be on a household product” says Outside-In® Companies President and Outside-In® founder Chris Burkhard. “We hope to have our family of companies stand for an incredible customer experience where innovation and employee satisfaction are evident to all.”

Headquartered in Newark and Wilmington, Delaware, the Outside-In® Companies intend to change the way the Human Resources industry provides talent solutions. Instead of operating from a pre-packaged services mindset, the companies provide solutions “from scratch” crafted specifically to solve the challenges that led the customer to work with a third-party service provider.

“Our expanded partnership with CBI Group and Placers as part of the Outside-In® Companies brings heightened market awareness to the Barton Career Advisors Outplacement business,” said Chris Barton, Barton Career Advisors Founder & Sales Group Lead. “Values are the secret sauce in business performance and I know we are on the right track.”

As companies whose purpose is to handle clients’ challenges of bringing people in and letting them go, this service-based, cultural mentality is a conscious – and innovative – approach to talent management. To learn more about the Outside-In® Companies and their new partnership visit www.outsideincompanies.com.

Outside-In® Companies CBI Group, Placers, and Barton Career Advisors continue to keep a healthy (and charitable) frame of mind this summer with the selection of the the Food Bank of Delaware as their July Charity. Team members will work to raise funds, donate food and build awareness for the local food provider, as well as volunteer an evening of their time to help sort and pack donated food.

“With 9.8 million children who receive school lunches now on summer break, it is imperative to keep these children and their families fed.” says Sourcing Specialist, Lindsay Griffith, “The team members at CBI Group, Placers, and Barton Career Advisors recognized this issue and decided to spend the month of July dedicating our efforts towards supporting the Food Bank.”

Members of the Placers team now provide an added advantage in this tight job market: an Agent to the Workforce.

Placers is the contingent workforce solutions company that in the 1990s was one of Delaware’s largest employers. Headquartered in Newark, Placers returned to the job scene in 2011 as an Outside-In® partner of CBI Group.

Currently, Placers employs contractors in a variety of positions including manufacturing, healthcare, banking and information technology in positions ranging from support to management. After being part of Placers, each employee now has the option of working with a job/career coach with Barton Career Advisors (BCA), another Outside-In® partner.

“We believe strongly in supporting and empowering our people,” says Placers and CBI Group Founder and President Chris Burkhard. “And that includes offering career coaching and support which we think has a lot of value in any economic climate, boom or bust. As our partnership with Barton Career Advisors deepens, we think this is a lasting benefit in support of our people,” Burkhard adds.

Once a Placers employee expresses interest, he/she gets access to a BCA coach for three half-hour sessions usually by telephone, explains Greg Moore, the BCA coach leading Agent to the Workforce. “Then we hook them into our online portal and its modules for career change, resume writing and job searches. And from that one they can just apply online for positions that interest them.”

While this is great for the worker, might it narrow the pool of Placers people making the transition from temp jobs to full-time? “That certainly could happen but we still feel this is an important service to offer,” Burkhard says. “The way to success for a workforce management organization is to have positive, productive people and we see Agent to the Workforce as playing a positive role.”

Placers team member Ginola Johnson says she finds the program very informative and the online components, especially the job search tools, “much easier to use than having to sift through a lot of emails.” Each participant has access through Barton Career Advisors to a one-source job lead program that issues a daily job lead e-mail message including multiple leads in the person’s field, eliminating many potential messages.

So does she feel a sense of support when it comes time to look for her next opportunity? “I sure do!” Ginola says.

We Are Customer Centric

Being Customer Centric is an attitude, a way of life, and our business philosophy. We are guided by our customers – thinking through the eyes of the customers at all times. For us, customers are at the center of it all, deciding what priorities we focus on and driving the change as we adapt and evolve. -Outside-In® Pocket Guide

The original Placers did anything and everything it could to make service the #1 priority for customers. That has carried over to CBI Group today. The root of being Customer Centric is really about putting the customer at the forefront of your daily thoughts. We all have so much to do each day, but is it with intention towards the one who pays the bills – the customer?

I like the idea of being competitive around service. Imagine if we all try to “one up” each other in our efforts to blow a customers mind. That kind of service is contagious. When you see others smile and practice it, Customer Centric thinking just becomes second nature. Service becomes easier, not harder. Imagine a world where every day you can make your company better. Imagine right now that you are 100% empowered to fix things around you. And that we want to really hone in on the fixes and hassles that can make us more and more Customer Centric.

I am always asked about the big stories of Customer Centric thinking, and I have one in mind to share. Many years ago, I was attending a sporting event that ended very late into the evening. In fact, as I was making the ride home some time after midnight my phone rang. This was a new customer who admitted to me that they had chosen to go with a competitor of ours. That competitor had promised them a recruiter to start that day (since it was after midnight) and they had just received an email that the company was unable to fulfill their initial promise. (You might think that I was being Customer Centric to even pick up, but all I did was answer the phone. The Customer Centric stuff comes next.) I started calling all of my leaders to ask if they might be able to help me help our prospect. Then it happened, Jamie O’Neill offered to go in that day. Now this was no small feat! She had a team, a business plan, a full day, week, month of stuff to do. But we knew this really mattered, and we did it.

My memories around being Customer Centric involve the really big things in CBI Group’s history. But the best examples are the day-to-day ones. Seeing staff pick up a piece of paper off the floor. Watching a team member grab a phone call when someone is not available. Customer Centric is really about executing the little things well. Customer Centric is our recruiters driving candidates around the weekends to show them schools, and nice neighborhoods and where the shopping mall is located. Customer Centric is when folks step forward to do volunteer work (recruitment or not) on their own time because they know it is the right thing to do and full of good karma!

I sure would love to gather more and different Customer Centric stories all of the time. Get some new ones, and commit to getting this sort of thing in orientation and training for others. We all want to know how to fit in.

Imagine a world where all of us wakes up and plans to be Customer Centric? That is how we will get better all of the time!

CBI Group Founder and President Chris Burkhard was interviewed today on radio station WDEL 1150AM in Wilmington, DE about his thoughts on the job market in 2013. Chris expressed optimism while emphasizing that today’s work world is far different than even a generation ago.

“There are lots of opportunities developing as long as workers are open to thinking about employment differently. Being creative and open about the nature of work is key today because what can be called non-traditional opportunities and jobs do exist and are out there.”

As the job market has slowly recovered from the 2008-09 recession, the temporary or contract work force has been one of the fastest growing sectors. And, as WDEL anchorman Peter MacArthur pointed out, “Gone are the days of working for two or three decades for a single company. Today its more ‘every man for himself’ so it seems that patchwork is the next logical way to look at jobs and careers.”

Chris agreed using an analogy of the Wild West where most people worked for themselves and the concept of big companies as employers hadn’t developed yet.

“Every man for himself was the culture then, people were responsible for their own careers as farmers, shop and saloon keepers and tradesmen… they were on their own. Today I think even large employers would encourage workers to be like our ancestors and be more responsible for our own careers.”

Chris pointed out that contract and independent workers take on that initiative and responsibility and that some are even using this work as a strategy to find permanent employment. “What better way to get to know a company, and that company to get to know you, than to work for them as a temp first?”

Chris added that CBI Group and Placers, the temporary workforce company re-launched in 2011, continues to experience that growth first-hand.

Come visit us, Rita Scanio & Glenn Koetz, at our booth as we support the HR in HD: Getting a Better Picture conference on Thursday, May 3, 2012.

You’ll also have a chance to hear the Keynote Speaker, Freeman Zausner, COO of URBN, a man who has seen his current company cultivate and grow from a single store into five very successful brands even when the rest of the country was going through the worst recession in recent history. At CBI Group, we have a similar story, making it through the rough years and launching Placers on the other side. We celebrate in the success of entrepreneurial leaders – congrats Mr. Zausner!

When you stop by our booth, have a go at our raffle to win a Tri-State Local Goodies Basket! See you next week!